Well, went to Universeum last weekend with my family, it is a combination of aquarium and rainforest (among other things) the trick is, it is indoors...
It was nice, and an oppurtunity to finally give my camera some really hard treatment! (and me for that matter)

Well, as always I appreciate comments but since there is a lot of pictures, so please comment the aquarium ones because they were the hardest (no light except in the aquarium), and why did I get so slow shutterspeed/high iso in the rainforst shots? it was very well lit in there...?!??
btw, the pictures are straight from the cam with no cropping/editing.
(if you need the exif, it can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/michael.widegren1/Gallery2

Nice shots of the Lionfish (I'd crop it a bit closer and try and PP out the guy's silhouette behind the fish) and the Black Tipped Reef Shark (maybe try a vignette on this one - at least lose the black shadow encroaching at the bottom).

Hey CyberTron,
I enjoyed these a lot.
I can't comment on why the high settings because there is no exif data in your post, that info would help.
In spite of the settings, they came out pretty good, all you need is to do is de-noise them a little. I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty to edit the first shark, just used Neat Image on it.

Hi John, I'm not sure what you have seen in this shot is all noise. The reef sharks have very rough skin to cope with chasing prey in and amongst coral (which is very rough and easily tears human skin) and that may be partly what is seen in Michael's first shot (though there is definite noise in all the shots). It seems almost too smooth in your processed shot !

Hey CyberTron,
I enjoyed these a lot.
I can't comment on why the high settings because there is no exif data in your post, that info would help.
In spite of the settings, they came out pretty good, all you need is to do is de-noise them a little. I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty to edit the first shark, just used Neat Image on it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frogfish

Hi John, I'm not sure what you have seen in this shot is all noise. The reef sharks have very rough skin to cope with chasing prey in and amongst coral (which is very rough and easily tears human skin) and that may be partly what is seen in Michael's first shot (though there is definite noise in all the shots). It seems almost too smooth in your processed shot !

Thanks both of you, I do not mind you guys helping me out here
well, my exifs are at my "real" gallery, but the shark for example is:
ISO: 5000
Exposure: 1/125 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Focal Length: 210mm

Yep those are higher ISOs than I'd use with a K7 but the Kx has a better sensor and better low light capability. I think we are short a shot too ! You say there are two bird shots but I can see only one ?

The 'thru-glass' shark shots came out really well ! Only the reptile shows any major reflections. I usually angle the camera at 45 degrees and drape a dark handkerchief sized cloth over it to lower the chance of any window reflections.

I think Picasa has a decent noise reduction tool you can use ?

re. High ISOs - they seem to be in line with your environment's light levels and shutter speeds although next time maybe you could try putting the lense edge against the glass and lowering the shutter speed a little more (but not if there is too much movement - your speeds of 1/125 and up look just about enough for slow moving sharks). I'd rather have a high ISO and try to clean up the image than a slower shutter speed and blurred images !

Yep those are higher ISOs than I'd use with a K7 but the Kx has a better sensor and better low light capability. I think we are short a shot too ! You say there are two bird shots but I can see only one ?

The 'thru-glass' shark shots came out really well ! Only the reptile shows any major reflections. I usually angle the camera at 45 degrees and drape a dark handkerchief sized cloth over it to lower the chance of any window reflections.

I think Picasa has a decent noise reduction tool you can use ?

re. High ISOs - they seem to be in line with your environment's light levels and shutter speeds although next time maybe you could try putting the lense edge against the glass and lowering the shutter speed a little more (but not if there is too much movement - your speeds of 1/125 and up look just about enough for slow moving sharks). I'd rather have a high ISO and try to clean up the image than a slower shutter speed and blurred images !

Ahh, yes I have missed a bird shot , added it to the original post
and thanks for the tips about hankershief and you are right, i should not care so much about the iso i guess, better sharp and noisy than blurry...

I have actually ordered some prints to see how it will look like in normal size printing.

Hey Kev,
Yeah, it does look a little over processed but, I think that's due more to the reduced resolution's and resampling of Michael's photo. with the original photo, I'm sure it would look better.

Michael, Like Kevin said, the K-X is excellent in low light, I could never get that nice of image with my K-20 with an ISO of 5000. Not having used one, I'm not sure if it works the same as mine but, I have noticed that on mine depending on what mode I'm in, it will sometimes use a much higher ISO than I want it to and I'm not sure why. I use the function button to limit the range for auto ISO and sometimes even use all manual settings just to get away from the auto settings. Its all kind of weird to me how auto modes works, sometimes they work fine and other times not. or, maybe its just me. I don't know.
BTW, nice shot of the Grebe, the other bird is called a Scarlet Ibis, good job on him too.

That second bird shot (some type of Grebe ?) is lovely Michael ! Apply some selective sharpening to the head and some NR and Voila ! Great shot.

Hi!
Been having troubles with my internet, so haven't been able to comment. But thanks a lot! I am actually trying to apply sharpening (that goes quite well) but I don't get a hang of the NR. Doesn't do what I want it to do....but I will keep trying...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goldwinger

Hey Kev,
Yeah, it does look a little over processed but, I think that's due more to the reduced resolution's and resampling of Michael's photo. with the original photo, I'm sure it would look better.

Michael, Like Kevin said, the K-X is excellent in low light, I could never get that nice of image with my K-20 with an ISO of 5000. Not having used one, I'm not sure if it works the same as mine but, I have noticed that on mine depending on what mode I'm in, it will sometimes use a much higher ISO than I want it to and I'm not sure why. I use the function button to limit the range for auto ISO and sometimes even use all manual settings just to get away from the auto settings. Its all kind of weird to me how auto modes works, sometimes they work fine and other times not. or, maybe its just me. I don't know.
BTW, nice shot of the Grebe, the other bird is called a Scarlet Ibis, good job on him too.

Thanks Goldwing, i completly agree with you, it has a tendency to chooose higher iso´s than I want, so i sometimes limit it..
for example, the Tv mode ALWAYS chooses the biggest aperture no matter the light outside. and the Av mode often takes "slow" shutterspeed and quite high iso....(but it is better than AUTO!!!)
I take a lot of pics on my kids, and therefor uses the TV mode most...but I must try and use M mode more often...